As unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones) become pervasive, the chances increase that a drone may inadvertently or intentionally fly into a restricted air space. Drones are air vehicles with or without a human pilot. A Drone may fly autonomously, controlled by onboard computers, or may fly under remote human pilot control. Examples of restricted airspace include but are not limited to airports, airplane flight paths, no-fly zones, buildings/skyscrapers, military reservations, stadiums, private property, and other geographic boundaries. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and state agencies continue to develop more guidelines and regulations for drone operations of all kinds (civil, commercial, recreational, etc.) in the United States. However, presently, there are no systems that effectively prevent or otherwise restrict a drone from flying into restricted air space.
When aircraft are operating at low altitudes, the high workload and decreased performance of the aircraft due to the slow airspeeds and close proximity to the ground makes it imperative that the airspace in and around the aircraft be free of distractions and dangers. The ability of the pilot to see and avoid such dangers may make it impossible to continue safe and controlled flight. Evasive maneuvers taken quickly to avoid collision with a drone could put the airplane into an unrecoverable spin or stall. In the event the drone is ingested into an engine or is hit by a propeller, the power plant of the aircraft is at risk. To this end, a method interrupting the intended flight path of a drone and causing the drone to be removed from the flight path of an aircraft increases the safety of those in the air and on the ground.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and useful to have a system able to detect UAV's in the flight path of piloted aircraft and warn the pilot of an impending collision.